NEW YORK, May 8, 2012 -- "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"
continues its legacy of on the road convention coverage by broadcasting a week
of shows during the Republican National Convention in Tampa."The Daily Show's" coverage of the 2012 RNC will be taped at
the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts in Ferguson Hall and air
nightly at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT from Tuesday, August 28 through Friday, August 31. The show previously announced its coverage of
the 2012 DNC which will be taped at ImaginOn: The Joe & Joan Martin Center™in Charlotte
and air nightly at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT from Tuesday, September 4 through Friday,
September 7.

"We
are incredibly excited to spend a week in the beautiful city of Tampa," said Rory Albanese, Executive Producer, 'The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart.' "We
look forward to enjoying the beaches and the exciting nightlife, plus we assume
this counts as a visit to our grandparents."

The Straz
Center is located at 1010 North W.C. MacInnes Place
in Tampa.Tickets for the tapings are free and will be
available only through the show's Web site, www.thedailyshow.com, not through the
venue’s box office.

This marks the ninth time the series has taken its
critically-acclaimed and award-winning political coverage on the road, having
previously travelled to Philadelphia (2000 RNC),
Los Angeles (2000 DNC), Boston
(2004 DNC), Denver (2008 DNC) and St. Paul (2008 RNC) to
cover the national party conventions, and to Washington,
D.C. (2002, 2010) and Columbus, OH
(2006) for special, mid-term election coverage.

"The Daily Show" first earned its political
stripes during the now-infamous 2000 election, receiving an Emmy®
Award and a prestigious George Foster Peabody® Award for its
year-long "Indecision 2000" coverage of the race for the White House,
achievements repeated during the series' "Indecision 2004" election
reporting.

"The Daily Show" airs Monday-Thursday at
11:00 p.m. and repeats at 1:00 a.m. the same night and at 9:30 a.m. and 6:00
p.m. the following day (all times ET/PT). Full episodes, as well as clips, are posted
for viewing the following day at www.thedailyshow.com
with URL and embed links. Fans can
follow @TheDailyShow on Twitter
or “like” The Daily Show on
Facebook.

Jon
Stewart and Rory Albanese are the Executive Producers of "The Daily Show
with Jon Stewart" with Steve Bodow, Kahane Cooperman, Jennifer Flanz and Adam
Lowitt serving as Co-Executive Producers. Supervising Producers are Pam DePace, Tim
Greenberg, Hillary Kun and Stuart Miller.Jill Katz is the Executive in Charge of Production. The series' Head Writer is Tim Carvell and it
is directed by Chuck O'Neil.

Opening in 1987, the Straz Center
consists of five theaters, three restaurants and the Patel Conservatory. The 335,000 square-foot facility provides an
environment for a wide variety of world-class events. It boasts one of the nation’s leading Broadway
series and is nationally respected for presenting a wide variety of concerts,
performances and events and for its resident company Opera Tampa. For more information about the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Opera
Tampa, the Patel Conservatory and their upcoming events, please visit www.strazcenter.org, www.operatampa.org and www.patelconservatory.org.

Available
in 99 million homes nationwide, COMEDY CENTRAL (www.comedycentral.com), the only all-comedy network, is
owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned
unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA and VIAB).For up-to-the-minute and archival press
information and photographs visit COMEDY CENTRAL's press Web site at www.cc.com/press and follow us on Twitter @ComedyCentralPR for the latest in breaking news
updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.

Monday, May 07, 2012

After 15 years of marriage, television personalities and
real-life-married-couple Annabelle Gurwitch (Dinner and a Movie, Fired!) and Jeff Kahn (The Ben Stiller Show, Forty Year Old Virgin) have adapted their
hilarious and often moving memoir, You Say
Tomato, I Say Shut Up!, for the stage. You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up! “strikes
directly to the funny bone” (Charlotte
Observer) by offering a hilarious glimpse into a relationship that
seems doomed by opposing personalities from the start. Gurwitch and Kahn’s
delightfully crazy lifestyle manages to keep their relationship intact,
up-ending every idea about living ‘happily ever after.’

The book was developed
through sold-out performances at The Comedy Central Theater and at Upright
Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles and made its
New York
premiere at The New York Comedy Festival in 2009. Casting for the Tampa production will be
announced later this summer.

Performances of I Say Tomato, You Say Shut Up! are
Thursday-Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 and 7
p.m. Regularly priced tickets are $35.50 and may be purchased by calling
813.229.STAR (7827) or 800.955.1045 outside Tampa Bay, in person at the Straz Center Ticket
Office or online at www.strazcenter.org. The
performances on Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 15 at 2
p.m. are previews, with tickets for $25.

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

The David A. Straz, Jr.
Center for the Performing Arts announces the

2012-2013 Club Jaeb
season

***

Tampa, FL – Now celebrating
its eighth season, Club Jaeb transforms the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theater into an intimate music space
featuring folk, Americana, alternative, country and other
“hand-picked music that matters.”

The 2012-2013 Club Jaeb season is presented by Merchants
Association of Florida, Inc. and includes:

Darrell
Scott ∙
Oct.
8

Scott’s songs have been recorded by more than 70 artists
including the Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill, Sam Bush and Garth Brooks. He won Americana Songwriter of the
Year in 2007 and ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year in 2002. Rolling Stone says he “matches Guy Clark
and Bruce Springsteen at their best.” Performing Songwriter calls him “the best
of the best.” USA Today says his
songs are “brilliantly clever.” In addition to his songwriting, Scott is a
brilliant player on multiple instruments. He recently toured with Robert Plant’s
Band of Joy. His most recent recording is A
Crooked Road, and he also wrote Red Molly’s “You’ll Never Leave
Harlan Alive.”

Carrie Rodriguez ∙ Nov.
12

Rodriguez started as a teenage violinist who went on to
study at the Berklee College of Music. Since then she’s mastered mandolin and
guitar and toured with Chip Taylor, Lucinda Williams and Alejandro Escovedo.
Although she’s a skillful songwriter (note her prideful shot at a cheating lover
on “She Ain’t Me”), her latest CD Love and
Circumstance is a collection of covers from some of the very best
songwriters including Richard Thompson, Townes Van Zandt and more.

Tyrone Wells ∙ Dec.
10

A preacher’s kid, Wells combines soul, pop and folk rock
– and more than a few stories – in his live shows. He has spent the last year
bouncing between Nashville and Los Angeles, so it makes
sense that his spring 2012 release, Where We
Meet, bounces effortlessly between intimate and epic. His previous
recordings Hold On and Remain contain songs that were featured on
Grey’s Anatomy, The Vampire Diaries and Rescue Me. In 2010,
Metal & Wood spent nearly
three weeks at No. 1 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart and debuted at No. 14
on the Billboard Heatseekers
Chart. Although he has hundreds of original songs, he has a knack for selecting
great songs to cover and make his own, such as the Kings of Leon hit “Use
Somebody.”

Kris Delmhorst ∙ Jan.
21

A former member of Redbird (with Peter Mulvey and
husband Jeffrey Foucault), Delmhorst approached one of her best recordings,
Shotgun Singer, with a decidedly
lo-fi method. She isolated herself in a rural cabin with minimal recording gear
and a houseful of instruments. Then she added some layers, “like an oil
painting,” she says. Delmhorst’s voice has been described as “wine deep and
honey bright.” Never predictable, her Strange Conversation recording turned the
words of moldering poets like Rumi, e.e. cummings and Walt Whitman into modern
songs.

“The album is an assured model of sophisticated
songwriting and heartfelt musicianship.” – Boston Globe

Cheryl Wheeler ∙ Feb.
11

A well-covered songwriter and natural-born storyteller,
Wheeler counts Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Holly Near and Dan Seals among those
who have recorded her work. She returns to Club Jaeb a few years after a
sold-out show that had the audience crying and laughing, occasionally at the
same time.

“Imagine a performer with the songwriting whimsy of a
Randy Newman, the soul of a Joan Armatrading, the vocal pyrotechnics of a Diane
Schuur and the wry humor (and cluttered look) of a Linda Ellerbee.” – L.A. Times

Richard Shindell ∙ March
11

Shindell first gained worldwide attention during a
European tour with Joan Baez, later forming a kind of folk supergroup with Dar
Williams and Lucy Kaplansky called Cry Cry Cry. His South of Delia recording, featuring songs
by Robertson, Dylan, Springsteen and Guthrie, was named a Top 10 selection by
NPR. With Not Far Now he returns
(mostly) to his own songs. Long a spiritual seeker – first in a Zen Buddhist
monastery and then at a seminary – Shindell is a powerful writer and equally
powerful performer.

“One of the folk circuit’s most quietly lucid
songwriters, with a compassionate intelligence that gleams through his songs.” –
Jon Parales, New
York
Times

Tift Merritt and Simone Dinnerstein ∙
April 6

*This concert is in the Straz Center’s Ferguson
Hall.

It may seem an odd pairing at first, this Grammy®
Award-nominated alt-country darling and a pianist known for her interpretations
of Bach, Beethoven and Shubert. But Merritt has always resisted easy
classifications, as comfortable in Nashville’s
Ryman Auditorium as in Paris, where she lived for a while. The album
Night features a collection of
new songs written especially for the duo by the likes of Brad Mehldau, Patty
Griffin and Philip Lasser. Jenny Scheinman, whose previous collaborators include
Bill Frissell, David Byrne and Madeleine Peyroux, has contributed arrangements
of some of Merritt’s and Dinnerstein’s favorite songs. Both artists will perform
solo as well – Merritt in her own songs – more like musical short stories,
including some from her latest recording See
You on the Moon – and Dinnerstein in some of her favorite selections
from the solo classical piano repertoire.

“Always a storyteller … Merritt is the type of disarming
talent who can easily coax her way into any genre.” –
NPR

Lori McKenna ∙ May
6

After taking a circuitous route to the music business,
including raising a family, this Boston-based singer-songwriter nods to
Nashville but
stays rooted in her own world. Marriage, family, a sense of place – they all
inform McKenna’s intimate and detailed lyrics. Fellow musician Mary Gauthier
helped get McKenna’s songs noticed in Nashville and superstar Faith Hill recorded
three of them on her album Fireflies. Since then McKenna has recorded
two stellar albums – Unglamorous
and her most recent Lorriane,
named for her mother.

“The power of McKenna’s
music lies in her artful pairing of intimacy and universality. … Her songs will
break your heart, compel you to hug your children, or remind you that time
passes, and fast. … She celebrates the sweet romance of the familiar. She dances
to the rhythms of a settled life.” – Boston Globe

All Club Jaeb performances are on Mondays at 7:30 p.m.
except for the concert with Merritt and Dinnerstein, which is on a Saturday.
Audiences can come early for the 6:30 p.m. Monday Music Mingle, with affordable
light snacks and drinks and then stay to see the
show.

Current
season ticket holders get the first chance to keep their seats for next season.
Those packages are available now and begin at $130. Pending availability for
this popular series, new season tickets will be available June 1. Those
interested in learning more can call the Straz Center Ticket Office at
813.229.STAR (7827) or outside the Tampa Bay area at 800.955.1045 or visit
www.strazcenter.org. Individual show
tickets are $28.50 and will go on sale Sept. 4.

Events, days, dates, times, performers and prices are
subject to change without notice.

President Obama’s April 5 letter
expresses pride for Coppola’s “many accomplishments and contributions,” and
wishes him luck as the Maestro begins a new chapter in life. A copy of the
letter is attached.

Following the April 22 performance of the company’s production of Aida, Coppola retired from the podium
after 17 years as founding artistic director of Opera Tampa. “I must confess, I
will never be the same person without Opera Tampa,” Coppola said, calling Straz
Center President Judy Lisi his “blessed fairy godmother.”

During
his illustrious career, Coppola conducted almost all of the important opera
companies in the United States
and Canada including the San Francisco and New
York City Operas. Known for his range and versatility, Coppola conducted the
world premieres of Lizzie Borden, Deseret and
Of Mice and Men, as well as many Broadway musicals. He worked with the
Royal Opera Orchestra and opera soprano Angela Gheorghiu to release a complete
recording of Puccini works. After serving four years as an army bandmaster
during World War II, he moved on to conduct at Radio City Music Hall. For 15 years, he was the
director of both the Symphony and Opera Departments at the Manhattan School of
Music and holds a master’s degree in composition. Among his larger works are a
symphony, an opera, a violin concerto and numerous film scores. Coppola
conducted important revivals of Zaza, Mireille and Falstaff,
and appeared in his nephew Francis Ford Coppola’s film, Godfather III.
He also conducted the score for the Coppola film Dracula. Coppola has
received honorary Doctorates from the University
of Tampa and Quinnitiac
University in Connecticut. He was honored with the
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Puccini Foundation and recognized by the
Italian government as Cavaliere, Gran Ufficiale. Coppola has conducted all of
Opera Tampa’s productions including Madama Butterfly, Carmen, La Bohème, Tosca, Hansel and
Gretel, La
Traviata,
The Marriage of Figaro, the world premiere of his own opera Sacco
& Vanzetti,
Otello, Turandot and many more.

Maestro Daniel Lipton, who has been appointed artistic director and
conductor of Opera Tampa, will succeed Coppola. Details of the upcoming season
and Lipton’s first appearance with Opera Tampa will be announced in the next
six weeks.

DETAILS:The
Straz Center
will hold Test Drive Your Seats, an
opportunity for the public to come inside Tampa’s
home for premier performing arts and choose their seats for the 2012-2013
season with the stage in sight. There’s a season ticket package, and a price
point, to fit every budget and every schedule. Packages begin as low as $128.

This is a FREE event. Those
considering becoming season ticket holders can take seats for a spin and find
the perfect ones from which to enjoy all of the magic live theater has to
offer. The new season offers the singing and dancing nuns of Sister
Act, Cole Porter’s classic Anything Goes, feel-good romps with
’80s hits like Priscilla Queen of the Desert’s “I Will Survive” and Flashdance’s
“Flashdance – What A Feeling,” the chilling return of Jekyll & Hyde, the poignant
and spectacular drama War Horse, the exhilarating and
evocativeTraces
and the all-singing, all-dancing celebration of the Gershwins in ’S
Wonderful.

For more information about this
event or the Straz
Center and its other
upcoming events, please visit www.strazcenter.org.

Must-see
multimedia experience for the whole family features new music from

Jack
Antonoff of the chart-topping indie band
“fun.”

Tickets on sale Friday,
May 4, at noon

Tampa, Fla. – From Storybrook Village to Tampa’s David A. Straz, Jr.
Center for the Performing Arts! Preschoolers have “the power” to experience
Super WHY as never before when
Super WHY Live: You’ve Got the
Power!, the first-ever live show based on the top-rated PBS KIDS TV
series from Out of the Blue Enterprises,flies onto stages
across the country starting this summer! Produced by S2BN Entertainment
(Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark,
Yo Gabba Gabba Live!, Rock of Ages: The
Musical) and featuring music from Jack Antonoff of the hit band
“fun.,” Super WHY Live kicks off
in Monroe, La., and will visit nine cities throughout July, “setting the stage”
for additional stops from coast-to-coast this fall. Tickets will be available
beginning Friday, May 4.

“Super WHY
Liveadds a whole new
exhilarating dimension to Super
WHY and its power to entertain and inspire young children,” said
Samantha Freeman Alpert, co-creator and executive producer of the series and
co-founder of Out of the Blue Enterprises. “We’re so excited to extend the
beloved series from the screen to the stage with this full-scale live production
for families to enjoy together.”

Super WHY Live
vibrantly brings to life Super Why, Alpha Pig, Wonder Red, Princess Presto and
their puppy pal Woofster, who each take children on larger-than-life,
imagination-stimulating adventures. With help from the audience, the characters
embark on magical, out-of-this-world journeys to explore what they’ve always
wanted to be  from a ship’s captain to a rock star and more! While singing,
dancing and interacting with the characters on stage along the way, pint-sized
fans (and parents, alike!) discover who really has the power to make dreams come
true!

Showcasing cutting-edge technology, visual effects and
aerial stunts, Super WHY Liveis a sensory spectacular that
will dazzle and delight audiences of all ages. The new production features a
team of top talent, including a Tony® Award-winning scenic designer and an Emmy®
and Tony Award-nominated lighting designer, who create a mesmerizing setting for
the show.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to take fans on
this high-flying ride and invite them into the world of Super WHY in a completely unique way,”
said Michael Cohl, CEO, S2BN Entertainment. “For many children, Super WHY Live will be one of their
earliest live entertainment experiences and we’ve created a truly unforgettable
show for the entire family.”

Fans can visit www.superwhylive.com to sign up to
receive the latest tour news and announcements and follow @superwhylive on
Twitter.

About Super
WHY

Reading is power and Super WHY is the only preschool property
created to help kids learn the fundamentals of reading through interactive
storybook adventures. Produced by Out of the Blue Enterprises in conjunction
with DHX Media, the series has a groundbreaking multimedia aesthetic – with a
winning combination of two- and three-dimensional animation formats, relatable
and engaging characters and immersive environments. The program represents a
novel approach to preschool educational television, featuring a team of
superhero characters with literacy-based powers, who jump into books to find
answers to everyday preschool challenges.

About Out of the Blue
Enterprises

Out of the Blue Enterprises is dedicated to developing
a groundbreaking portfolio of individually-targeted children’s entertainment
properties under the direction of a proven management team led by Co-Founders
Angela C. Santomero, M.A. developmental Psychology from Teachers College,
Columbia University and a Creator of the preschool entertainment phenomenon,
Blue’s Clues, and Samantha Freeman Alpert, MBA from Harvard Business School and
former Nickelodeon entertainment executive with extensive children’s marketing
experience. The company creates breakthrough, interactive and curriculum-based
entertainment concepts that span a variety of viable platforms, including
television, video, publishing and consumer products. In doing so, Out of the
Blue stimulates the minds of kids and families, involves them in fresh and
original ways and elevates their educational entertainment experiences to a
whole new level.

About S2BN

S2BN Entertainment is a diversified international
family show and event entertainment company specializing in the acquisition,
development and production of high caliber touring exhibitions, unique live
music tours and events, theatrical performances, and consumer and multimedia
product offerings. The company’s experienced management team executes activities
across all types of global venues – from stadiums to theaters. S2BN
Entertainment has a long history of promoting a diverse range of incredibly
successful shows on a global scale. Led by Michael Cohl, the team at S2BN has
been responsible for producing and overseeing tours with many of the most
renowned artists in the world, including the Rolling Stones and Barbra
Streisand; blockbuster Broadway musicals; and award-winning family shows for
children of all ages.

Super WHY Livewill play Carol Morsani
Hall on Saturday, July 28, at 5 p.m. Regularly priced tickets start at $23.50
and may be purchased by calling 813.229.STAR (7827) or 800.955.1045 outside
Tampa
Bay, in person at the Straz
Center Ticket Office or online at www.strazcenter.org. For more information
about the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts and its upcoming
events, please visit www.strazcenter.org.

Tampa, Fla. ─ The David A.
Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts is partnering with SEER, Secure
Environmental Electronics Recycling, to host an electronics recycling drive
during the Straz Center engagement of the international hit dance sensation Burn the Floor.

Those who stop by the Straz
Center stage door to recycle electronics anytime between now and Friday will
receive a voucher for 50% off tickets to a performance Tuesday-Friday of Burn the Floor, which plays the Straz
Center April 24-29. Each discounted voucher is good for two tickets and should
be redeemed at the Straz Center Ticket Office 90 minutes before the selected
performance. Items can also be dropped off directly at the ticket office during
this window of time. Limit of two vouchers per person with multiple items. Restrictions
apply.

Recycling
electronic waste conserves landfill space and prevents toxics from being
released into the environment. Collected items will be utilized for recovery
and reuse of valuable materials. For a smooth, fast drop off, all cabling
should be removed from devices and placed in a bag.

Burn
the Floor brings together the talents of 20 award-winning
international dancers from around the globe – England,
Italy, South Africa, Australia,
Slovenia, Venezuela, Uruguay,
Philippines and the United States –
and includes Australian Ballroom and World Latin American champions. The dancers,
who collectively hold more than 100 dance titles, move to the vision of
artistic director and choreographer Jason Gilkison, former World Champion Latin
and Ballroom dancer, and guest choreographer and judge on So You Think You
Can Dance.

For
more information about the David A. Straz, Jr. Center
for the Performing Arts, visit www.strazcenter.org.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Happened to me once
before, decades back, at a Chambers Brothers show in Boston Common. My feet left
the ground, I was being held up by bodies, somehow I squirmed my way to the
right and was ejected from the scrum.

And I’ve never
forgotten it.

On Saturday I saw
too many bands giving good performances of mediocre material, and one band with
great material that was so long in the tooth it was creepy, and an acoustic act
that was as out of place as a Muslim at a Bar Mitzvah. But on my way to the
Sahara tent I encountered Kasabian. They
reaffirmed my optimism. They were good.

You can tell when
an act has that little something extra.

But minutes before
Kasabian left the stage, the swarm started to move. That’s what it was, like
endless gnats moving to the Sahara
tent.

I moved too, but
got so frightened of being caught in the mass of bodies that I stayed outside
the tent, where I was still being bumped into and twirled like a top. Guetta
eventually featured Usher, but by that time I was gone. The patrons kept
streaming in, I wanted out.

And then there was
that Canadian singer, with a bunch of extra players on stage. She was
charismatic, merging with her guitar, but once again, the material was
disappointing.

And then I saw Bon
Iver.

To say this guy and
his band were great would be an understatement, they were
TRANSCENDENT!

Incredibly
well-rehearsed.

But most
importantly, they sounded completely different from every other act on the bill.
They were a party of one. I couldn’t take my eyes off
them.

In a sea of
mediocrity, excellence stands out.

Oh, what the hell,
let me start naming names.

Grace Potter and
the Nocturnals. If she doesn’t get your willy moving, you’re gay (not that
there’s anything wrong with that!) The sound was impeccable, the solos were
good, and the material was so damn mediocre that she could close nobody,
applause was minimal. And when AWOLNATION started up on the main stage, I gave
up. That’s one of the problems at Coachella, sound bleed. It’s a war of who can
turn up their amps louder. And if you think this is appealing, you’re
deaf.

How about
tUnE-yArDs? Great on paper, decent on YouTube and so out there live that almost
no one clapped. We were all shaking our heads. I couldn’t find one person she
impressed.

The aforementioned
AWOLNATION was loud and that’s it. The less said the
better.

Kaiser Chiefs were
in the wrong location, maybe the wrong era. In the bright California sunshine,
their music didn’t penetrate. I loved hearing "I Predict A Riot", but the
audience was near somnambulant.

Noel Gallagher’s
High Flying Birds…

Who gives a
shit.

Smart guy, good
guitar player, sub-mediocre voice. The more you listen, the more you miss Liam.
I know Liam’s insane, but that doesn’t mean he’s not
necessary.

Buzzcocks?

Noise.

And with so much
more noise coming from every other stage, the cacophony made me want to move on,
which I did.

Laura
Marling?

Why don’t you whip
out your guitar at the baseball game? She was so out of place, so overwhelmed by
sound bleed as to be irrelevant.

Squeeze?

Positively creepy.
I’d hate to be an over-the-hill rock band. People remember your hits, want to
hear nothing new and you play to an ever-dwindling audience, unable to give up
because you were someone once. It hurts, I know. I loved hearing "Tempted", but
the first part of the show was material I never need to hear again, and if you
think they were good, you still believe your grandma is a
hottie.

Shins?

I’ll admit they
were decent, but I never got in front of the stage. You’ve got to eat sometime,
and go to the car for more clothes.

Feist?

I wanted to love
her. Up close and personal her complexion was less than perfect, she can really
wail on the guitar, she closed me, she’s a rock star, but the longer I stood
there the more the material washed off of me. She had everything but the
hits.

And I’d like to
explain what made Kasabian so damn good, but you know music, it’s like
pornography, you know greatness when you see it.

And I didn’t think
David Guetta was great. But there was no denying he had the audience in the palm
of his hand.

As for the
headliner, Radiohead… They made a crucial mistake. Trying to be unique, they
refused to use the giant video screens on each side of the stage. Instead, we
were subjected to their own tiny floating screens over the stage. Very cool.
Excellent in theatres. But if you’re playing to tens of thousands, it just
doesn’t translate. The problem with Radiohead? You just couldn’t see
them!

And they were so
boring at first, they lost fifteen or twenty percent of their audience, they
just drifted off to Kaskade.

As did
I.

The Sahara tent was full. There were incredible pink effects.
There was an energy absent from the Radiohead show.

Oh, I went back to
see Thom Yorke, et al. They played a few numbers I was familiar with. But
really, they’re a band for fans only. If you’re not one, you’re not gonna be
closed.

Which brings us
back to Bon Iver…

Talk about
overhyped! Every hipster in America is testifying about
him.

Furthermore, the
press fawns.

But he was
everything we’re looking for, completely special without trying too
hard.

He looks like a guy
from your math class. His chest is not ripped and his hair is getting thin. But
boy could he wring ethereal effects from his
guitar.

And there was brass
and backup vocals and the end result was an aural tapestry you couldn’t help but
weave yourself into. What Justin Vernon was selling you can’t get at the movies,
you can’t read in a book, it’s the essence of
music.

Sure, he’s got a
nontraditional voice. But so does Neil Young.

And Neil’s a good
comparison. Because both he and Mr. Vernon go their own way, obey their own
muse, are unaffected by both trends and media
feedback.

Once upon a time,
in the era of classic rock, the superstars sounded nothing
alike.

But today,
everybody fits into a slot. You rarely hear something new. And if you do, it’s
not infectious.

But Bon Iver
was.

And I realize Bon
Iver is not EDM ("electronic dance music" for the uninitiated). But if you want
to survive the deejay onslaught, that’s what you’ve got to be, different,
unique, special.

Forget the TV
competition shows. That’s like watching Little
League.

Forget Top Forty
radio. That’s old men doing it without emotion for the bucks. Breaking rules is
anathema.

If you’re not
willing to risk everything, without complaint, if you’re not willing to go your
own way, you’re just not gonna make it, not in today’s
market.

Come on Grace
Potter, write one irresistible song! We don’t want to sleep with airheads, not
more than once!

Feist…stop being so
precious!

Noel Gallagher…
Either form a band with Axl Rose or get back together with your brother,
otherwise we just don’t care.

We live in an era
where all that matters is excellence. And this is especially true at a festival
like Coachella. When put next to great, good just fades away, we’re not
interested.

If you can’t blow
people away, if you’re not the cat’s meow, you’re better off avoiding the
festival, you’re just gonna look small and
irrelevant.

But if you can
wring a magic sound from your instrument, if you can make us believe this moment
is all that matters, if you can make the rest of the world fall away, getting us
to concentrate only on you…

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

WHO: David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts and Live Nation

WHAT: Il Volo

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 15, at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Carol Morsani Hall at the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts

DETAILS: In May 2009, three fresh-faced teenagers, Piero Barone (17), Ignazio Boschetto (16), and Gianluca Ginoble (16), appeared on the popular Italian talent show Ti Lascio Una Canzone and dazzled television viewers with their flawless rendition of the Neapolitan standard “O Sole Mio.” The boys, who won the competition easily, decided their group needed a name. Il Volo, meaning “flight,” was chosen to signify the feeling that these three young tenors were about to spread their wings and fly.

The group’s self-titled debut album was released in Italy in November 2010, and was quickly certified gold by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry. The international edition of the album was released on April 12, 2011, and was promoted in the United States with a performance during the final three results show of the tenth season of American Idol. The album debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 chart and at No. 1 on the Classical Albums chart, selling 23,000 copies in its first week.

Regularly priced tickets start at $39.50 and may be purchased by calling 813.229.STAR (7827) or 800.955.1045 outside Tampa Bay, in person at the Straz Center Ticket Office or online at www.strazcenter.org. VIP packages are available at www.VIPnation.com.

Events, days, dates, times, performers and prices are subject to change without notice.

TAMPA, Fla.— On April 10, 12 and 15, Opera Tampa will offer a limited number of people the rare opportunity to go behind the scenes of Aida, Giuseppe Verdi’sgrandest of grand operas. A series of FREE open rehearsals is planned in the coming week.

Attendees will have the opportunity to get a “fly-on-the-wall” view of the company as they rehearse Verdi’s famous “Triumphal March” scenes from Act 2 of Aida, under the direction of Maestro Anton Coppola. The busy and energetic rehearsal will include principle singers, chorus members and dancers.

Reservations may be made by calling 813.222.6409. Space is strictly limited to 10 people at each rehearsal. Attendees are asked to arrive at the Straz Center Stage Door on MacInnes Place, 10 minutes before their reservation and should plan to stay for the duration of the rehearsal. Photography or recording of any kind are prohibited. The available time slots are as follows:

April 10

Tuesday

7 to 8:30 p.m.

April 10

Tuesday

8:30 to 10 p.m.

April 12

Thursday

7 to 8:30 p.m.

April 12

Thursday

8:30 to 10 p.m.

April 15

Sunday

2 to 3:30 p.m.

April 15

Sunday

3:30 to 5 p.m.

Aida will be presented in the Straz Center’s Carol Morsani Hall, Friday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 22, at 2 p.m., as part of the Opera Tampa season presented by Homes by Helen. The opera tells the story of Aida, princess of Ethiopia, captured and brought into slavery in Egypt. Radames, a high ranking military commander, is torn by his love for Aida and his duty to the Pharaoh, with tragic consequences for both. Regularly priced tickets for the performances of Opera Tampa’s Aida start at $29.50 and may be purchased by calling 813.229.STAR (7827) or 800.955.1045 outside Tampa Bay, in person at the Straz Center Ticket Office or online at www.strazcenter.org.

For more information about Opera Tampa and its upcoming events, please visit www.operatampa.org.

Events, days, dates, times, performers and prices are subject to change without notice.

PAC2012-128

Aida is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.